Wills and Kate

As you probably know by now, the Royal Family today announced the engagement of Prince William, heir to the British monarchy, and Kate Middleton, soon to be heiress to 50% of the British Monarchy.  Reactions were mixed, which is to say that the vast majority of people I spoke to were either totally ignorant of the goings on or completely apathetic about it.  Some were ignorant until I told them, and then they were apathetic.  This does not bode well for the spectacle of the wedding, but I'm sure the tourists will make up the numbers and I'll be right there with them.

Sky news interviewed friends of Wills today.  I wonder what is required to qualify one to be a friend of the Prince.  Good teeth and hair seem to be the main discernible qualities.  I imagine the truly privileged like Wills and Harry and their friends are an appallingly vapid bunch, and that when they get together, the combined emotional maturity of the gathering to be something on par with a room full of Paris Hiltons. This is probably unfair, though.  I don't actually know any of the truly privileged, so my judgement may be off.  Somehow, I doubt it, though.

About 10 minutes after the announcement, a friend from my old neighborhood emailed me to marvel at the goings on.  "Aren't the royals basically just bleeding the taxpayers dry?" he asked, quite reasonably.  Actually, as it turns out, not exactly.  Apparently, the Queen and the Prince of Wales (William's father) cost the UK taxpayers about £42M per year, well, according to Wikipedia, anyway.  And they don't pay tax on some or all of their income.  While £42M a year is nothing to sneeze at, even assuming this is true, I'd say they're a bargain - without the Queen, would anyone come here to visit?  London's a somewhat grey, damp place with a soon-to-be 20% tax on pretty much everything.  Surely the mere presence of a queen and all the trappings of the monarchy draw more than that a year in revenue.

Regardless, I hope that I'll get to see something of the wedding.  I'm sure my name's already on the A list and they're deciding whether to seat me next to the Duke of Norfolk or the Earl of Essex.  Decisions, decisions.